Two of the largest coal rail shippers reported an overall increase in volume in the second quarter of the year. Yet domestic volumes declined even as the Trump administration pushes a flurry of favorable coal policies.
CSX and Norfolk Southern, whose networks overlap in the Eastern U.S., ship coal from Eastern Kentucky to American power plants and export terminals.
Domestic coal shipped by CSX declined 2%, the quarterly report indicated, while its exports increased 12%. Norfolk Southern’s domestic coal declined 8%, while its exports increased 25%.
CSX overall coal volume increased 5% in the quarter, while Norfolk Southern’s increased 4%.
In a presentation to investors, CSX cited higher shipments of coal to overseas markets for steelmaking and electricity production. Norfolk Southern did not include those details.
President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aggressive steps since the beginning of last year to boost coal production to mixed success.
In Kentucky, coal production was flat in the January-to-March quarter of 2026, while employment fell.
Since the COVID pandemic depressed coal production in 2020, the number of tons mined in a single quarter peaked at 154 million in the July-to-September quarter of 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended energy prices worldwide.
Coal production and employment were generally higher during the Biden administration, though its policies did not favor coal production or generation.
The Trump administration’s trade policies may have contributed to an initial drop in coal exports last year, followed by hundreds of job cuts in Central Appalachia.
One producer of metallurgical, or steelmaking, coal for overseas markets, Clintwood JOD LLC, based in Pike County, filed for bankruptcy in March, resulting in 300 layoffs.
Aggressive steps to boost US coal
The Trump administration has rolled back regulations, canceled tax credits for wind and solar, and ordered coal plants to stay on the grid instead of shutting down. It committed hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade facilities, including a few in Kentucky.
Still, the rapid addition of solar generation continues. Solar outpaced coal generation for the first time in May.
Natural gas continues to be the nation’s dominant fuel for electricity generation, displacing coal more than a decade ago.
Railroads haul about 70% of U.S. coal production, according to the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s principal trade group.
CSX and Norfolk Southern serve the coal regions of Central and Northern Appalachia, as well as Southern Indiana and Illinois.
Both railroads haul export coal to the Port of Baltimore. In Virginia, CSX serves the coal terminal at Newport News, and Norfolk Southern, the one at Norfolk.
Norfolk Southern has a merger application pending with the federal Surface Transportation Board with western carrier Union Pacific. If approved, the railroad would stretch from coast to coast and become North America’s largest.
Union Pacific taps the Powder River coal basin of Wyoming, the nation’s biggest producer. Relatively little Powder River coal is exported due to the lack of terminals on the West Coast.
